No more free classes for elders at UMass Dartmouth

DARTMOUTH — If you're just now finding out that elders get free classes at UMass Dartmouth, you're too late to take advantage of it.

The tuition credit program for students 60 and over has been drastically reduced for the upcoming semester. Whereas seniors previously got both tuition and fees waived — amounting to free classes for non-degree students, except for a $10 fee for a copy of grades, one student said — students new to the program will pay $1,471 for each three-credit undergraduate class.

For graduate classes, the cost for three credits will be $1,666.

"I think it's a shame," said Deborah Donovan, who has been taking Italian courses with the waiver.

An older person in a class brings a perspective that might otherwise be missing, the 60-year-old Westport resident said.

"You're going to have empty chairs and no seniors. That's my fundamental viewpoint on it," she said.

UMass Dartmouth spokesman John Hoey said the old policy was out of step with other UMass campuses. The issue came to light last year, when a change to tuition collection practices in the entire UMass system went into effect, he said.

Previously, UMass had to relinquish tuition earnings to the state, only to ask for it back as a state appropriation. But the university was allowed to keep money from fees, which resulted in fees being set far higher than tuition. UMass began keeping tuition last year, and a substantial portion of fee dollars were rolled into it.

With tuition staying on campus, UMass Dartmouth reviewed its waiver programs. The school found that its practice of giving seniors a 100 percent waiver of both tuition and fees, regardless of their ability to pay, was an outlier among UMass campuses, Hoey said.

"It wasn't really fair to have other students on campus subsidizing this benefit," he said in an interview.

Other campuses gave a waiver of tuition only, which was small under the old system. In contrast, the full benefit UMass Dartmouth was giving cost the campus $267,650 last year, he said.

Twenty-one elders are enrolled in degree programs, and another 45 non-degree students took one or more courses in the last academic year.

The new credit per three-credit course is $177 for undergraduate courses and $259 for graduate courses, the same discount provided to veterans, Native Americans, clients of the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, clients of the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, which supports people with disabilities, and recipients of the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship, he said.

After a batch of letters went to existing students in April, UMass Dartmouth decided to partially grandfather elders already taking classes.

"After reflecting on the impact that this change would have on your ability to take classes, we have decided to offer you a full tuition credit for the upcoming academic year," a subsequent letter to non-degree students announced. Those students will pay $61 in fees for a three-credit class, but only for one year.

Current degree-seeking students will receive a full tuition credit for the remainder of their degree program, but they will pay fees of between $807 and $1,256 annually for a full-time undergraduate program, depending on their major.

"We wanted to keep our promise to students who had already started a degree," Hoey said. They will get a discount of about 90 percent of the total cost. Degree students may also apply for need-based financial aid. UMD does not want to lose any student based on the inability to pay, he said.

Doug Roscoe, a professor of political science and president of the Faculty Senate at UMass Dartmouth, said the group has not debated or discussed the issue. He suspects individual faculty would have a variety of opinions, he said.

"I'm sure some think we ought to continue the benefit, particularly because seniors often bring a diversity of perspectives to the classroom," he said in an email. "On the other hand, I'm certain some faculty understand that in difficult budget times it is not appropriate to provide a full discount to any student without some assessment of their needs — in other words, to go through the normal financial aid process."

Asked if elders could audit a class, meaning they would not get credit, Hoey said the university has provisions to allow it at the discretion of the professor, but has not seen a lot of demand.

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